Nationalism
Etymology
From Latin natio, “birth, tribe, people,” from nasci, “to be born.” “Nation” long meant a group linked by birth or origin; the -ism, arising mainly in the nineteenth century, named the doctrine that such a group ought to govern itself. Because it has powered movements as varied as independence struggles and aggressive expansion, the word carries very different connotations in different contexts.
noun · /NASH-uh-nuh-liz-um/
A belief that identifies a people as a nation and holds that this nation should have political self-determination and priority in loyalty.
What it names
The force that turns a shared identity into a political demand — capable of both anticolonial liberation and exclusionary hostility, depending on how it is expressed.
Example
The same nationalism that fueled the colony’s bid for independence could, decades later, harden into suspicion of minorities.
Related idea
Patriotism is often described as love of one’s country without the claim of superiority or the political program that nationalism can carry.